Invent Shunned

Mathew Parris of The Times Online claims the greatest invention is not what polled readers had in mind. In fact, he says it has yet to be invented:

Such is the price of our failure to find a way to store or carry electrical power. I know what my Great British Invention would have to be.

His argument makes a lot of sense. I definitely see the disconnect between the wonders of oil as a carrier of energy versus the efficiency of electricity to convert energy to motion. Yet, converting oil to electricity efficiently and safely has not been perfected.

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Moon gas won't cut it as The Invention.

To extract helium 3 gas the rocks have to be heated above 1,400 degs F (800 degs C). Some 200 million tonnes of lunar soil would produce one tonne of helium, Taylor said, noting that only 10 kilos of helium are available on Earth.

For now, that is the killer problem.